Via Metafilter:

http://www.lauriemcguinness.com/macpc_music.mov
http://www.lauriemcguinness.com/macpc_money.mov
http://www.lauriemcguinness.com/macpc_girl.mov
http://www.lauriemcguinness.com/macpc_work.mov

Because let's face it -- whether you hate M$ and break out in hives just looking at a box that isn't at least running some variation of Debian or think Microsoft is just fine -- especially when your games work -- Macintoshes are crippled, girly little `puters for wussies.

[Edit] And note how much the PC looks like John...

MORE MORE...

Now that the site is running agin..

Hi folks. long time no post...

Frankly I don't like the new layout, and that's why I was so absent here.
I want to pick this thread started by Max B. to pose this question to you:

Is Apple going to kill off the CD and become a Sony-like behemoth spanning the Media and Consumer Hardware markets?

I came to this conclusion last night after some debate on the usual Mac vs. PC threads on the blog. As usual Lauren was the regular Macboy and I was the usual bitter Mac basher...(ha, ha ,ha...). As a result we came to write long winded posts. Unfortunately the blog posts have short life span, so, just when it was gettin interesting it's gone.
Read all about it here:
http://www.dvorak.org/blog/?p=10281#comment-524261

This musing has something to do with the absolute bogus statments of S.Jobs. I don't buy it that he's coming out so clean and out against DRM, when it's all it his favour.
Maybe the citizen Jobs has this opinion. But the CEO of Apple can't. And also I smell a paradigm shift coming about. Maybe not set forth by Apple, but Apple will play a role, it will be a major cog in the machine.

This musing has something to do with the absolute bogus statments of S.Jobs. I don't buy it that he's coming out so clean and out against DRM, when it's all it his favour.

Since you brought up DRM... I have an open question:

Doesn't anyone here think DRM can work?

Isn't it ultimately a Tom-and-Jerry game with no winners?

Well NO !
While one outwits the other, the consumer suffers.
And DRM can be cracked. It takes just one copy of an mp3 or aac or whatever, cracked, to show up on a file-sharing software, and people can download it everywhere. DRM per se won't stop file sharing.
So in the end, a Pro pirate can always crack a tune, and spread it (even that a Pro Pirate won't want to spread it...).
It's the average Joe that suffers.

My rant is that the powers that be know that. Their agenda on DRM is not to protect their business. It's to exclusivise the product: buy a copy for iPod, and buy another for Zune, and yet another for that great new player just around the corner...

Anyway, you can stop DRM. Just buy CDs.
Don't go for that crap online music. At least don't buy from a DRM'd provider.
CDs have no DRM and still account for 95% of the music market. And sales aren't plummeting as they say. In fact the music business is wealthier than ever.

Think about it..
DRM adds cost to the product.

If you had a choice of the EXACT same music and you paid the EXACT cost, of the products to manufactour...  Even if its only $0.50 difference...would you pay it?
That $0.50 ends up about $2+ on the shelf at a store, AT LEAST.
NOW if we could cut out a few Money hungrry Bastards along the way, we could probably save another $5+ per album.

The RIAA and MPAA(?) dont want to compete.
they want to find Fault, in NOT making more money.
They cant raise the price anymore.
They have already let a PART of the controls loose with ONLINE distributours, something THEY thought wouldnt work.  WHICH also show'd us something.  That the COST isnt that high, and the RIAA and others are making a small FORTUNE.

Doesn't anyone here think DRM can work?

Yes, DRM will work.

Most people seem to think DRM is aimed at P2P pirates. If it was, it would not be successful.

DRM is aimed at everyone who isn't a P2P pirate. They are the people who will be forced to purchase and repurchase and repurchase their favorite songs, ad infinitum because they are honest - or they aren't technically competent to find a way to beat DRM.

I can't believe that after paying their lawyers the RIAA is actually making any money with these frivolous lawsuits. Therefore the lawsuits are simply a distraction, so the "Great Unwashed" don't notice their pockets are being picked.

Under that suggestion, I would think that ALL a DRM is doing, is making HONEST people, that wish to make Backups of the music, Dishonest.  As they end up searching the net for ways to Kill it so they can place the music and video in a safe place, incase the original or copy gets Scratched and unreadable.

Even if they buy it off the Net and it has DRM on it..They want to make a copy to play on a REAL stereo, or play it in the car.  they would need to defeat the DRM.

Under that suggestion, I would think that ALL a DRM is doing, is making HONEST people, that wish to make Backups of the music, Dishonest. 

That's exactly my point. DRM will work but only for very honest people or non-technical people who can't manage to defeat it. In fact, I'd say that was the plan all along - to maximize the Bottom Line at the expense of honest and/or non-technical consumers.

But,
You are Forcing people to BECOME knowledgable...
I moderate a site, and can you GUESS what the topics concern...
"How can i get this to Burn"

But,
You are Forcing people to BECOME knowledgable...
I moderate a site, and can you GUESS what the topics concern...
"How can i get this to Burn"

You're right. As an unintended consequence of DRM, many otherwise honest people will be looking for easy ways to hack the crippling effects and financial pain of this copy protection.

So... in a convoluted train of thought, in fact, DRM will bring the herds of lemmings of average Joe user's to an higher understanding of the issues...
Interesting, so in the end, DRM is not a bad thing... in the same mindset of "what don't kills you just makes you stronger"...

Hmmm... I like that !

wellll,
you remember the IDEAL of what windows WAS SUPPOSED to be/do..
It was supposed to be a Point and click, EASY interface...
And, NOW...
Any one thats had to CLEAN the interface or kills bots and virus...will tell you that it AINT.

I hate DRM, so I just dub  it via analogue back to digital. Yes, it is real-time but it's worth it.   If the DRM lets me burn a CD, I just rip the CD back to MP3s.

I am not a pirate and have never shared my music but I just want to play my music on any of my players.

My personal preference is Total Recorder but I think there are other programs that let you "grab" the music going to you sound card.   With Total Recorder, if you can hear the music in your computer speakers, you can copy the music.  That will be pretty hard for DRM to bypass.

As for quality -- there is no difference on any of my audio equipment.  Maybe the most picky of audiophiles would discern the difference but for most people, there is no difference.